Candy, Not Flowers
by Volcanic Lily
Summary: Sequel to "Diagrams," but you don't have to read to get it.  Reagan visits Ted in the hospital after his surgeries. Ted/Reagan.


**A/N: This is a sequel to my other fanfic "Diagrams," but you don't actually need to read it to understand this (although it'd be nice if you would- pretty please? :D). Hople you enjoy it! (Disclaimer: I, Volcanic Lily, do not, unfortunately for me, own _The 39 Clues_. Although my brother _does_ act like Dan sometimes.)**

_Knock, knock_.

Ted Starling didn't hear the hesitant knocking the first time. He was too busy staring out the window at the world outside this plain, white hospital room, the world than he had once taken for granted.

Several months ago, Ted would have completely blown off the red, orange, and magenta hues of the sunset and the jaybird swooping in to perch on the branch of the elm tree right outside Room 207's rectangular window, in favor of one of his and his siblings' inventions. But now that he had lost the ability to see and, through a series of never before conducted surgeries, gained it back again, he had finally learned to appreciate the beauty in these simple, everyday sights.

_Knock, knock, knock!_ This time, the rapping on the door was louder and more insistent, and Ted couldn't ignore it. "Come in!" he called out. He stood up from his seat on the bed, expecting Ned or Sinead, or possibly even Alistair Oh.

But it was none of those. There stood Reagan Holt, wearing a T-shirt and shorts in place of the usual tracksuit, holding a brown paper bag in her strong arms, and looking uncharacteristically awkward. Or at least, uncharacteristic from what Ted had seen of her before losing his vision. He had no way of knowing how she had looked when she helped him draw those diagrams on the island, or how she had looked the total of two times she had come to visit him during these months of surgeries.

He _did_, however, know that he didn't remember Reagan looking so… cute before. (Was this still part of his new outlook on the world, finding everything beautiful?)

"Hi, Ted," Reagan said. After staring at him for a moment, she thrust the bag at him. "Here. I know most people bring flowers, but that's kinda girly. Plus, flowers just die. But candy, you can eat- so I thought you'd like it better."

Peering into the paper bag, with one hand steadying his new glasses so that they wouldn't slip off, Ted saw that it was indeed full of candy: Snickers, Milky Ways, Junior Mints, Nerds, Starbursts, candy of all kinds.

"I didn't know what you liked," she explained, looking uncomfortably at the simple décor on the hospital room walls. "So I brought a bunch of different kinds. If you don't like some of it, you could give it to me. I like it all."

"Thanks," said Ted. "That's very nice of you." He set the bag on the table next to his hospital bed, then looked back up at Reagan. "Very thoughtful."

There were several words that people did not often use to describe Reagan Holt. One of those was "thoughtful." It gave her pink cheeks and a sudden desire to change the subject.

"Um… Cool glasses! Are those new?"

Ted nodded. "The surgeries worked very well. I still doubt I'll ever have 20/20 vision again, but I'm not going to complain when this is still a lot better than before."

"Yeah." Reagan frowned. "Sorry again for that explosion. It was Dad's idea."

"I know."

"He let me skip ballet to bring those to you, though. Probably because I don't think he really likes me taking ballet, anyway!"

Reagan laughed, causing her whole face to light up. Ted thought that she was pretty nice, for a Tomas. She didn't seem as bad as the rest of the Holt clan. He definitely hadn't seen any of them bringing him gifts of candy- not flowers- or helping him draw out his diagrams back on the Madrigal island. That reminded him….

"Thanks, Reagan."

She looked confused, as if someone had just presented her with one of those difficult sudoku puzzles and asked her to solve it. "What for?"

"All your help. Without you, I never could have gotten those diagrams done so I could show them to the doctors and they could use them for their surgeries. You really helped a lot."

Reagan's face flushed at Ted's praise. "It was no big deal. I just drew out some pictures."

"Good pictures." Ted pulled something off the bedside table, and she saw that it was the napkin she had first drawn the diagrams on. "You have a pretty steady hand. Have you ever thought of being an artist?"

Her mouth fell open in a surprised little "O" shape. "No, that's Janus stuff. The only art I do is martial arts."

He stared at her. "It doesn't matter if it isn't what a Tomas usually does if you like it. Just because you have the Tomas serum in you and that makes you naturally good at athletic stuff, that doesn't mean you can't be good at other things that aren't so sporty. Same with me. Just because I'm an Ekat, does that mean I can't like playing basketball sometimes with my friends?"

Reagan cocked her head. "I never thought of it like that. And I didn't know you liked basketball…. Maybe we could play sometime."

"Definitely," Ted replied. "Just as soon as they let me go home."

Reagan flashed a smirk. "But don't be too shocked when I kick your butt!" She glanced down at her watch. "Well, I gotta go. See you, Ted!" And she bounded out of the room with a spring in her step, her pigtails swishing with every footfall.

Ted smiled after her. He was looking forward to playing a game of basketball with her, although she was probably right about her beating him.

_Or maybe I'm just looking forward to seeing _her_ again…._

That was a strange thought that would take a while to sort out. Oh, well, he had time. It would be a while until the doctor came in to check on him. He glanced over at the bag of candy on the beside table.

Maybe just one Snickers bar while he waited.

**A/N: Hope you liked this! I really think Ted/Reagan is cute. How about you guys? Tell me in your reviews if you want to, and as always, I'll gladly accept constructive criticism. :)**

**~Lily**


End file.
